Within a HairsBreadth of the Truth
by Beth Green
Summary: Nick, Catherine, Sara, Warrick, and Greg all show up in this Hodges, too. What are they up to? Inspired by the current season. COMPLETE


**Within a Hairs-Breadth of the Truth**

By Beth Green

xxxxx

The CSIs were taking advantage of a rare slow night.

Sara was currently restocking her field kit. '_Hm. Looks like I could use some more gloves.' _She cursed when she found the empty box in the CSIs' shared work area. She thought of a few colorful descriptive adjectives she'd like to verbalize on general principle in view of the lack of consideration on the part of some of her coworkers.

Sara sarcastically spoke to the air: "Whoever took the last of the medium gloves and didn't bother to replace them, thank you _so _much." There was no one present to hear her words, but Sara felt better for having said them as she headed into the supply closet.

Gloves in hand, she stepped out of the closet. Nick and Catherine were walking away from her. It seemed that the two had failed to notice Sara as she quietly closed the door. With nothing better to do, Sara listened in on their conversation.

Catherine was speaking to Nick. She declared, "I'm not your sister," grabbed Nick by the hand, and dragged her fellow CSI into the ladies' bathroom.

Sara stood in open-mouthed shock, staring at the closed door.

Warrick found her there a minute later. "Hey, Sara, what's up?"

Sara found her voice. She was shaking her head 'No' in denial as she exclaimed, "Warrick! I can't believe it!"

Warrick looked around in confusion. Seeing no one but himself and Sara in the immediate vicinity, he stated, "It's me. Believe it."

Sara pulled Warrick close, not wanting to broadcast their conversation loudly enough to be overheard. "No, it's not you."

Warrick interrupted, "Yeah, it is."

Sara swatted at his arm in frustration. "Will you just shut up!" Warrick wisely obeyed as Sara continued, "I'm talking about Nick and Catherine."

Curious, Warrick asked, "What about Nick and Catherine?"

Sara shook her head. "I just saw it, and I still don't believe it."

Warrick was starting to get frustrated at his coworker's unusual verbal tap-dance. Under normal circumstances, Sara did not hesitate to get straight to the point. His impatience showing, Warrick asked, "Would you mind telling me what the hell you're talking about?"

Over her initial shock, Sara shared what she'd witnessed. "Catherine and Nick were talking. They obviously didn't see or hear me when I stepped out of the supply closet. Otherwise, Catherine wouldn't have told Nick, 'I'm not your sister,' and she sure as hell wouldn't have grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the ladies' room!"

It was Warrick's turn to stand staring, open-mouthed. He quickly recovered his cool, stating, "I don't believe it."

Sara shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the receptionist. She gave them a friendly nod and headed toward the ladies' room. She pulled at the door, frowning when she found that it was locked.

Sara helpfully explained, "It's occupied."

The receptionist sighed. "Oh, well. Maybe I'll have better luck down the hall."

Once the receptionist was out of hearing range, Sara turned to Warrick. "Maybe now you'll believe me." She added, "Unless you want to stand out here and wait and watch them come out." When Warrick failed to comment, Sara smiled and said, "You might have a bit of a wait." She walked away.

Warrick watched her go. He shook his head and muttered, "Damn, Nicky, what's up with you?"

Greg walked up in time to hear Warrick's words. "Sorry, Rick, it's me, not Nick. I think you need to work on your investigative skills."

Rather than argue with Greg, Warrick agreed. "You know, you just might have a point."

Greg raised his eyebrows, his face revealing his surprise. "Really?"

Warrick continued, "I mean, you think you know a guy."

Greg nodded. "Yeah. I'd think by now you'd be able to tell the difference between me and Nick." Greg gave a surprised grunt as Warrick's elbow poked into his gut. "What was that for?"

"If you think I can't tell the difference between you and Nick, you deserve that, and more."

Greg rubbed at his belly and encouraged his friend to talk. "So, why don't you tell me what's got you standing sentry outside the door of the ladies' room?"

Warrick sighed, and leaned back against the wall. "Sara told me something that's got me a little shook."

Greg encouraged, "Why don't you tell Papa Greg all about it?"

Warrick thought for a minute, then decided, "Hell, you're probably gonna find out about it sooner or later. I'll tell you what Sara told me, then you do the math.

"She says Catherine told Nick, 'I'm not your sister,' and dragged him into the ladies' room."

Greg stood in shocked silence.

Warrick continued, "So you wanna tell me how that meant anything besides what I think it meant?"

Greg shook his head. "That's almost as scary as the fact that what you just said didn't make any sense, and yet I understood you perfectly."

Warrick ruefully replied, "Tell me about it."

Greg joined his friend in using the wall as a back support. "So, we just gonna stand out here and wait?" He gave a nod toward the bathroom and continued, "Maybe wonder what they're doing in there?"

Warrick shuddered. "Hell, no. That's a picture I really don't need." He pushed himself away from the wall and declared, "I'm going to go find something better to do, like check out Grissom's bug collection."

Greg stood and began to walk as he agreed with his friend. "Yeah. There's some decomp evidence I can go check on. That's got to be better than thinking about this."

xxxxx

Greg joined Hodges in the lab.

His friend could tell that something was up with his former lab partner. Hodges prodded, "Greg, you almost ruined that test. You want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Greg leaned against a lab bench. "I'm sure it's nothing."

Hodges disagreed. "If it's got you off your game, it must be something."

Greg decided to share his burden. He repeated Sara's tale.

Hodges showed no surprise. He stated, "And that's it?"

Greg tentatively replied, "Yeah."

Hodges went back to work, speaking as he sorted through test tubes. "That may be news to you, but it isn't to me."

Greg's voice was heavy with doubt as he commented, "You knew."

Hodges's lip curled as let out a 'Pfft' of air. "Nick and Catherine? Of course. Once Warrick took himself out of the running, Catherine would naturally go with her second choice."

Greg interrogated his friend. "What do you mean about Catherine and Warrick?"

Hodges stopped work to turn a sympathetic gaze toward the newest CSI. "Greg, you are so clueless when it comes to women. Catherine has always had the hots for Warrick. She just took Grissom's example too much to heart."

Thoroughly confused, Greg questioned, "Wait a minute! Who said anything about Grissom?"

Hodges stated, "I did. Grissom's got this whole, 'Don't fish off the company pier' thing going, or he would've taken Sara up on her offer long ago." When Greg did not comment, Hodges continued, "Guess Catherine finally woke up and smelled the coffee. Or the male musk."

Greg opened his mouth then closed it and returned to work, deciding that he'd already said too much, as had Hodges. His thoughts tumbled in confusion. _'Grissom and Sara? Catherine and Warrick? Catherine and _Nick?' The more he thought about the various combinations, the less he believed them. He chuckled to himself. '_Yeah. Right. Catherine and Warrick. I should know better than to listen to office gossip. Next thing you know, people will start pairing up Nick and Grissom. Or me and anybody.' _He grew sad at that last thought, deciding that it had been far too long since he'd been on a date. _'Next night off, I am definitely going clubbing.'_

_xxxxx_

It was at least half an hour before Nick joined his friends in the break room. He smiled cheerfully at them, and waited for them to say something - anything. His smile dimmed, then went out all together when they ignored him. He left them to their coffee and went off to find Catherine.

He found her in the file room. She smiled in greeting. "So, was I right?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. Everyone is acting really strange."

xxxxx

Their coffee break over, Sara grabbed Warrick before he could head into the file room. "Don't go in there!"

Warrick stopped his forward motion. 'What?"

Sara whispered, "Nick and Catherine are in there. If we get any closer, they'll see us."

"So? It's not like we can hear anything out here." Warrick questioned, "You just wanna stand out here and watch?"

Sara shrugged. "Why not?"

xxxxx

Catherine stepped into Nick's personal space and rearranged a stray lock of hair. She reassured her friend, "Hey, your new look is going to take some getting used to."

She prompted, "Remember when you had the mustache?"

Nick grimaced at the memory. "Yeah. Everybody was quick to say how much they hated it. The last straw was when you told me that I looked like the guy in that commercial, 'Time to make the donuts.'"

Catherine laughed. "Well, you did!" She swatted playfully at him. "And shame on you for saying that you were too young to know what commercial I was talking about, and I wasn't."

Catherine gave Nick a reassuring one-armed hug. "And there you go. If everyone hated the way I styled your hair, they wouldn't have been shy about letting you know.

"Once we had our little talk about how much you wanted to change your look, I'm so glad that you let me do your hair. Like I told you, I'm not your sister, the one who gave you the world's worst haircut when you still lived at home. I'm an expert at what makes a man look good and you, dear Nick, look good."

Catherine gave him a gentle, platonic kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for letting me do your hair. I never thought that the Marine-drill-sergeant look was a good one for you."

Nick swiped a hand at the unfamiliar feel of bangs. "And the Greg Sanders look is?"

Catherine placed her hands on her hips. "Nick, trust me. If you polled the female population of this building, the Greg Sanders look would definitely be given a thumbs-up."

xxxxx

Warrick shook his head. "Damn! Catherine gettin' all touchy-feely, hugging and kissing Nick. Guess I should've known you couldn't make this stuff up."

Sara suggested, "Maybe we should leave them alone." She and Warrick headed off down the corridor, whispering quietly regarding their coworkers. They were so intent upon their conversation that they did not notice when Nick and Catherine left the file room and began walking down the corridor behind them.

Catherine put a hand out to stop their forward progress. "Huh! Would you look at that!"

Nick stopped obediently, looking around in confusion. "Look at what?"

Catherine whispered, "Sara and Warrick! Who would've thought that those two would ever hook up?"

xxxxx

end


End file.
